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Phantom Limb
Phantom Limb (birth name Hamilton G. Fantamos) is a fictional supervillain on the Adult Swim television series The Venture Bros. He is a parody of articulate and "gentlemanly" supervillains, such as Magneto and Doctor Doom. His code name is a reference to phantom limb syndrome, while his true name is a reference to the French supervillain Fantômas created by Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre,Publick Nuisance - The Invisible Hand of Fate as well as the science fiction detective Gil Hamilton. His costume also bears a strong resemblance to that of the Lee Falk comic strip hero, the Phantom. Background Much of Phantom Limb's backstory is revealed in the episode The Invisible Hand of Fate. In a flashback in that episode, Phantom Limb reveals that he was disinherited by his family because of a congenital disorder that left him with severely underdeveloped arms and legs. Later in the same episode, an accident with a machine intended to develop his limbs to normal proportions not only reapportions them, but makes them invisible and endows him with the ability to kill with a touch. In The Invisible Hand of Fate, it is implied that Phantom Limb was a recruiter for the Guild of Calamitous Intent prior to the accident that gave him his powers. In the episode Hate Floats, he reveals that this accident was the impetus that drove him to become a supervillain and take the name "Phantom Limb." As a Guild supervillain, Phantom Limb rose to a position of great authority; although little has been revealed about the Guild's command structure, he was shown to be subordinate only to The Sovereign - the supreme leader of the Guild - and The Council of Thirteen, a governing body within the Guild which conducts trials of members that commit infractions. He was served by a small army of henchmen called Shadowmen, and convinced Dr. Girlfriend, his romantic interest at the time (then answering only to her birthname, Sheila), to become a supervillain, and eventually his own second-in-command under the name "Queen Etheria." His relationship with Dr. Girlfriend would later end with Dr. Girlfriend leaving him for the Monarch, resulting in a lifelong enmity between the Monarch and Phantom Limb. Dr. Girlfriend would once again become Queen Etheria after leaving the Monarch, whereupon Phantom Limb had the Monarch framed for the murder of a policeman, getting him sent to prison. When the Monarch escaped from prison and convinced Dr. Girlfriend to marry him, Phantom Limb, against the orders of the Sovereign, brought to bear his full authority as a Guild official, deploying an armada of Guild gunships to assault the Monarch and his henchmen during the wedding, resulting in his own defeat. Although he escaped, he was badly wounded, losing several body parts when his command ship crashed (it is not completely clear which body parts he lost; although he definitely lost his left arm, he may or may not have also lost all or part of each leg and his penis). It is later revealed that this attack on the Monarch was part of a larger plan to assassinate the Sovereign and claim his office. Phantom Limb's next appearance in the series is in the episode The Revenge Society. Calling himself "Revenge," he infiltrates the headquarters of the Guild and kidnaps two members of The Council of Thirteen, whom he blackmails into helping him obtain the Orb, an awe-inspiring artifact of unspecified function, the protection of which was revealed to be the basis for the founding of the Guild of Calamitous Intent in the episode ORB, and once again attempts to claim the leadership of the Guild, this time resulting in his capture. Personality Phantom Limb is cold, calculating, intelligent and ruthless. He is egocentric and pretentious, which is perhaps his greatest weakness - he seems unaware of how he sometimes offends others, and is prone to underestimating them. Powers and abilities Phantom Limb's arms and legs are completely invisible. He possesses the ability to kill or incapacitate others through physical contact. When he uses this power, the blood vessels and bones in his arms flash with red and green light and the sound of electric arcing is heard. In the episode The Trial of the Monarch, he kills a bailiff by taking hold of a gun the bailiff points at him - it is not made clear how many degrees of separation are required to deter its use. This power also enables him to deflect certain projectiles, although he is not superhumanly agile. He has complete control over his ability to kill by contact, allowing him to touch people without killing them. In the episode Showdown at Cremation Creek (Part II), David Bowie was shown to be immune to this effect, presumably due to his non-human or superhuman nature. In The Revenge Society, this power was shown to disable robots. As a high-ranking member of the Guild, Phantom Limb had full access to much of the its manpower and resources, although he was subject to the authority of his superior officers. As such, he could usually order a person's death on a whim. His influence within the Guild enabled him to convince David Bowie's bodyguards, Klaus Nomi and Iggy Pop, to join his coup d'état against Bowie. References Category:Television supervillains Category:The Venture Bros. characters